— Mortgage
Robert Wagnon, founder and CEO of Republic State Mortgage says mortgage originations are on pace for the best year ever. Record-low interest rates and strong demand for homes boost lenders during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the first nine months of the year, lenders extended $2.8 trillion of mortgages, according to industry-research firm Inside Mortgage Finance. The boom has extended into the final quarter of 2020, prompting analysts to predict origination volume will exceed the prior record of $3.7 trillion in 2003.
— Restaurant
Adam Brackman, owner of Axelrad says the restaurant and bar industry has been hit hard with COVID. Normally bars and restaurants fail because the operator had a bad concept or poor location and now they are struggling to survive through no fault of their own. It’s hard to watch this happen. Operators were forced to find their pivot and adapt to the new environment with creative solutions like mobile trucks or delivery. The PPP loans were a nice stop-gap for a short period, but that money has been long gone and we need better solutions from the government if we are going to be forced to be closed or limited in service in 2021. Please support local businesses through take-out or dine-in as much as you can. While we are seeing the shuttering of many restaurants, we are also seeing new ones opening. I believe as the vaccine is more widespread towards the summer, we will see life begin to return to normal. One big outstanding question is whether people’s dining habits have changed at all. Will more people cook at home now that they have bought all the kitchen gadgets? Will people use delivery apps more and we see a rise of Ghost kitchens that only serve meals to-go? At Axelrad we had to shut down for 4 months, but are now open under safe protocols and doing enough sales to cover costs, but are eagerly anticipating a return to normal.